What if stardom isn't all it's cracked up to be? - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T09:35:02Zhttps://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/what-if-stardom-isn-t-all-it-s-cracked-up-to-be?commentId=537324%3AComment%3A362981&feed=yes&xn_auth=noAw gee, now I'm really jealou…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-12-28:537324:Comment:3628832012-12-28T00:30:30.961ZSusanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Susan
<p>Aw gee, now I'm really jealous ... not of your wife, but because you live in Amsterdam, one of my favorite cities.</p>
<p>And yes, as you say, the person doesn't have to be all that famous. Local TV or radio personalities try to hide the location of their homes. I don't claim to have been stalked the way my friend was, but I have had a few ... don't want to call them scary, let's just say uncomfortable incidents, where someone who saw me in a music performance and got my home phone number…</p>
<p>Aw gee, now I'm really jealous ... not of your wife, but because you live in Amsterdam, one of my favorite cities.</p>
<p>And yes, as you say, the person doesn't have to be all that famous. Local TV or radio personalities try to hide the location of their homes. I don't claim to have been stalked the way my friend was, but I have had a few ... don't want to call them scary, let's just say uncomfortable incidents, where someone who saw me in a music performance and got my home phone number from someone (an office worker at a college where I taught) who shouldn't have given it to him. </p> Oh, I believe you. And you do…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-12-27:537324:Comment:3629812012-12-27T22:31:12.380ZMartyn V. Halmhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/MartynVHalm
<p>Oh, I believe you. And you don't even have to be an artist - anyone who is slightly famous, like the anchor of a local TV channel or a cute flight attendant can fall prey to a stalker. But stalkers won't get much attention stalking me. Or my wife. I enjoy my relative anonymity, which allows me to research and observe without attracting attention. Being male, and not esthetically handsome, I don't inspire obsessive love in female fans. Or male fans, for that matter.</p>
<p>Living in…</p>
<p>Oh, I believe you. And you don't even have to be an artist - anyone who is slightly famous, like the anchor of a local TV channel or a cute flight attendant can fall prey to a stalker. But stalkers won't get much attention stalking me. Or my wife. I enjoy my relative anonymity, which allows me to research and observe without attracting attention. Being male, and not esthetically handsome, I don't inspire obsessive love in female fans. Or male fans, for that matter.</p>
<p>Living in Amsterdam, instead of the US, also has its advantages. There's a reason why lots of American stars enjoy staying in Amsterdam...</p> Actually, many readers would…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-12-27:537324:Comment:3628812012-12-27T22:12:56.503ZSusanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Susan
<p>Actually, many readers would recognize big name authors who put their photos on their books. Male and female authors. However, women are in much greater danger from stalkers than men. [see my blog post on Olivia Newton John, who had not one but two stalkers after her.]</p>
<p>As for liking an author's work, that's not what stalkers are looking for. They want attention. They want to be as famous as the star (of whatever type of work, acting, music, writing) they stalk.</p>
<p>Patricia…</p>
<p>Actually, many readers would recognize big name authors who put their photos on their books. Male and female authors. However, women are in much greater danger from stalkers than men. [see my blog post on Olivia Newton John, who had not one but two stalkers after her.]</p>
<p>As for liking an author's work, that's not what stalkers are looking for. They want attention. They want to be as famous as the star (of whatever type of work, acting, music, writing) they stalk.</p>
<p>Patricia Cornwell has been stalked for years by a man who claims that she stole his ideas.</p>
<p>For many years, I was a professional musician. A good friend of mine, another female trumpet player, was stalked for seven years. The police were sympathetic, but this was before the anti-staking laws were passed in the 1980s. She finally had to move out of state to escape him. This inspired my second novel, DIVA, about a ruthless deranged man who stalks a beautiful female flute soloist. </p>
<p>The stalking of women (and yes, a few men) is a serious problem in the US. Check out the domestic homicide stats. Appalling. I detail some of these on my blog also.</p>
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<p></p> "What do you think about stal…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-12-27:537324:Comment:3629662012-12-27T12:22:31.844ZMartyn V. Halmhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/MartynVHalm
<p>"What do you think about stalker/fans? If you get rich and famous, it could happen to you!"</p>
<p>I don't think so. For several reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>How many authors would you recognise if you meet them on the street?</li>
<li>Readers tend to be different in their fandom than movie goers. And not all actors suffer the same fate - it's mostly the handsome 'stars' who get the wrong attention. I haven't heard of stalkers targeting Xander Berkeley or Kathy Bates.</li>
<li>Readers might like…</li>
</ul>
<p>"What do you think about stalker/fans? If you get rich and famous, it could happen to you!"</p>
<p>I don't think so. For several reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>How many authors would you recognise if you meet them on the street?</li>
<li>Readers tend to be different in their fandom than movie goers. And not all actors suffer the same fate - it's mostly the handsome 'stars' who get the wrong attention. I haven't heard of stalkers targeting Xander Berkeley or Kathy Bates.</li>
<li>Readers might like my work, but that doesn't mean they are jealous of my wife. Living with me is not as exciting as reading my stories.</li>
<li>I write suspense about an assassin. I had a beta reader confess that she was glad that I lived on the other side of the pond, as the details in my writing scared her. As I share quite a few skills with my protagonist, messing with me or my family might have consequences most stalkers would like to avoid.</li>
</ul> Yeah, Gene Kelly was great. A…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-07-18:537324:Comment:3496752012-07-18T00:39:24.594ZSusanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Susan
<p>Yeah, Gene Kelly was great. And I loved it when Natalie Portman did an imitation of him in The Professional. One of my all time fav movies (her first, I think)</p>
<p>Movie and TV critics love writing about the "best" films or shows. BTW, harvard is doing a series this summer of Paramount's 100 best movies.…</p>
<p><a href="http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2012julsep/paramount.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a></p>
<p>Yeah, Gene Kelly was great. And I loved it when Natalie Portman did an imitation of him in The Professional. One of my all time fav movies (her first, I think)</p>
<p>Movie and TV critics love writing about the "best" films or shows. BTW, harvard is doing a series this summer of Paramount's 100 best movies.</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2012julsep/paramount.html" target="_blank"><font style="font-size: 16pt;" size="4">http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2012julsep/paramount.html</font></a></p>
<p>Meanwhile, Boston Globe TV critic Mathew Gilber just compiled a list of the "best" or shall I say most influential TV series. sorry don't have the link but if you google you'll find it.</p>
<p><br/><br/> </p> Yeah, the best (creepiest?) p…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-07-18:537324:Comment:3496742012-07-18T00:35:57.405ZSusanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Susan
<p>Yeah, the best (creepiest?) part of Blue Velvet was the opening shot where you see all these BUGS crawling underneath the lawn and then the guy mowing the lawn has a heart attack. However, I confess that I saw Mulholland Drive and it bored me to death. Also confess I was never a Nick Nolte fan. Can't even remember the Naomi Watts character.</p>
<p>Yeah, the best (creepiest?) part of Blue Velvet was the opening shot where you see all these BUGS crawling underneath the lawn and then the guy mowing the lawn has a heart attack. However, I confess that I saw Mulholland Drive and it bored me to death. Also confess I was never a Nick Nolte fan. Can't even remember the Naomi Watts character.</p> . Well, maybe Singing in the…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-07-17:537324:Comment:3495052012-07-17T11:41:32.938ZCaroline Trippehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/CarolineTrippe
<p><strong>. Well, maybe Singing in the Rain :)</strong></p>
<p><br></br>Who couldn't love that one! If for nothing else than Gene Kelly's dance with the umbrella in the rain. And oh my god, those Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers dances. Twitty plots, sublime dancing. Sometimes sheer beauty is enough to justify a film.</p>
<p>I probably couldn't name ten "best" movies, much less 100. I am not really a diehard movie buff, to be honest. I'd rather read. But somehow over my lifetime I've managed to…</p>
<p><strong>. Well, maybe Singing in the Rain :)</strong></p>
<p><br/>Who couldn't love that one! If for nothing else than Gene Kelly's dance with the umbrella in the rain. And oh my god, those Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers dances. Twitty plots, sublime dancing. Sometimes sheer beauty is enough to justify a film.</p>
<p>I probably couldn't name ten "best" movies, much less 100. I am not really a diehard movie buff, to be honest. I'd rather read. But somehow over my lifetime I've managed to see a lot of movies, including a lot of foreign films. If I had to come up with a list of favorites, there would be quite a few of those on it. </p>
<p>Seems to me the idea behind naming "favorites" is to pinpoint the ones that were , to use your word, pivotal in some way. But most people think of the ones THEY liked best, for whatever reason!</p> And then we get Dennis Hopper…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-07-17:537324:Comment:3495632012-07-17T11:32:51.065ZCaroline Trippehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/CarolineTrippe
<p><strong>And then we get Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet. Yowza! </strong></p>
<p>Almost forgot about that one! Yowza! David Lynch is brilliant, though often hard to "get." It can take awhile. But what he does incredibly well is use all the techniques and devices that movie-goers have come to expect to build intense suspense, then he'll dash those expectations or turn them into something else. I always feel that he is commenting on films of the past but also on the desires of the…</p>
<p><strong>And then we get Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet. Yowza! </strong></p>
<p>Almost forgot about that one! Yowza! David Lynch is brilliant, though often hard to "get." It can take awhile. But what he does incredibly well is use all the techniques and devices that movie-goers have come to expect to build intense suspense, then he'll dash those expectations or turn them into something else. I always feel that he is commenting on films of the past but also on the desires of the audience---what is your deepest dread, loathing, need? He makes watching a movie a primal experience. The first time I saw "Mulholland Drive" I didn't really get it. Then, second time around, I did. A friend said, "Think of it as a dream." It still gives me chills. <br/>And speaking of Ambition---it shows what that can do to a person, how the movie industry uses women, and turns dreams into nightmares. <strong><br/></strong></p>
<p>The Naomi Watts <strong>character</strong> in Mulholland Drive was certainly a "soul sister" of the Gloria Swanson past-her-prime star. Both ambitious, both discarded. The one declined from greatness, the other denied her opportunity. <strong><br/></strong></p>
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<p></p> Caroliine, I agree with your…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-07-17:537324:Comment:3495582012-07-17T00:51:32.369ZSusanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Susan
<p>Caroliine, I agree with your comment about putting films into cultural perspective. Pot smoking Jack Nicolson and Dennis Hopper? Would never have happened in the 50s. And then we get Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet. Yowza! </p>
<p>I actually think Sunset Boulevard is a pivotal film. It kicks off the 50s with a film that brands the Swanson character with a scarlet A, not for adultery, for AMBITION. Big no-no back then. Hey, the boys were back from WW II and they needed the jobs. And then, at…</p>
<p>Caroliine, I agree with your comment about putting films into cultural perspective. Pot smoking Jack Nicolson and Dennis Hopper? Would never have happened in the 50s. And then we get Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet. Yowza! </p>
<p>I actually think Sunset Boulevard is a pivotal film. It kicks off the 50s with a film that brands the Swanson character with a scarlet A, not for adultery, for AMBITION. Big no-no back then. Hey, the boys were back from WW II and they needed the jobs. And then, at the end of the decade, along comes Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot, with its weird gender-bender themes. Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis in drag.</p>
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<p></p> Cammy, I agree that Birth of…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-07-17:537324:Comment:3494922012-07-17T00:45:18.775ZSusanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Susan
<p>Cammy, I agree that Birth of a Nation was blatantly racist, but plenty of people figured that out decades ago. Rear Window? I found it pretty creepy, like most of Hitchcock's movies. Hated Doris Day singing Que Sera tho (The Man Who Knew Too Much).</p>
<p>Yep, I've never been able to watch more than 30 minutes of It's a Wonderful Life. But Citizen Kane is still a pretty good movie. Seriously, I doubt you could get any 10 film critics writing today who would agree on the "best" 100 film…</p>
<p>Cammy, I agree that Birth of a Nation was blatantly racist, but plenty of people figured that out decades ago. Rear Window? I found it pretty creepy, like most of Hitchcock's movies. Hated Doris Day singing Que Sera tho (The Man Who Knew Too Much).</p>
<p>Yep, I've never been able to watch more than 30 minutes of It's a Wonderful Life. But Citizen Kane is still a pretty good movie. Seriously, I doubt you could get any 10 film critics writing today who would agree on the "best" 100 film classics. Well, maybe Singing in the Rain :)</p>
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